Various types of devices are known for storing small items. Generally, the devices are in the form of small boxes containing bins or trays, or covered compartments and the means for holding the small items take the form of closed cell, resilient foams or cork which accept a portion of the small item and hold it by frictional hold, or the small item is held by pins or clips, or the small item may be held by coiled springs or the like, or, the small item can be held by puncturing a soft foamed plastic substrate with a sharp part of the small item. A favorite holding device is the use of soft resilient foams and the like which have been pre-slit to accommodate a portion of the small item. Some of these devices depend on the frictional hold of a portion of the item in order to keep them in the storage device. Typically, these prior art storage devices are formed such that a portion of the item to be stored is slipped into a preformed slot in a cover layer and anchored in a flexible, resilient material laying underneath the slot. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 1,482,678, to Figley issued on Feb. 5, 1924, describes a fisherman's dry flyleaf book type of storage device. The device depends on combs containing vertical slit teeth which are aligned with slots in an overleaf. The vertical teeth are designed to accommodate the hook portion of an artificial fly such that when the fly in inserted into the teeth, the teeth slit is forced apart which creates tension on the hook and holds it in place. The problem with this type of device is that after a short period of time, the teeth are "sprung" and the flys are not held tightly and they tend to come loose inside the container.
A second type of device is the device described in Jacqmein, U.S. Pat. No. 1,815,568, which issued July 21, 1931, in which slit cork rods are held by metal channels inside a container. At column 2, of page 2, of the specification, the inventor describes the manufacture of the cork strips in the channels and the inventor herein wishes to note for those skilled in the art, that the "compression" described therein is strictly for the anchoring of the cork strip in the metal channel and has nothing to do whatsoever with any compression forces associated with the insertion of an item into the slits of the cork holder. The significance of this point will be better understood with an entire reading of this specification and claims.
A further small item holder is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,119,832, issued June 6, 1938, to M. J. Schless. This holder is similar to the holder of Figley, in that clamping teeth are required to hold the small item. Thus, this type of device suffers from the same problem as is found in Figley, namely, that the teeth lose their tenacity to hold the item in place.
Trujillo, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,814,152, issued Nov. 26, 1957, describes a rotary fly container. in which multiple lengthwise grooves in a tube are surmounted on either side by tubular elastic grips held by metal channels. The rotary device is also claimed as a flashlight. It appears from the specification and the drawings in this reference that the hook of a fly is forced between the lengthwise tubular elastic grips. which causes the tubes to be forced apart and which results in a frictional hold on the hook. The force holding the hook is thus supplied by the attempt of the tubes to return to their normal configuration. However, if a hook is moved back and forth several times in the lengthwise direction, the hook falls out. U.S. Pat. No. 3,753,519, issued Aug. 21, 1973, deals with a golf accessory carrier designed to hold golf tees, markers and the like. This device operates by forcing the item desired to be stored, into a resilient compressable core of a boxlike configuration. Thus, a hole is formed by the insertion and a pressure is exerted on the item to be held by virtue of the desire of the flexible material to return to its original configuration. Both U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,181,224, and 4,350,249 deal with apparatus for holding pieces of jewelry and both operate by the insertion of a sharp piece of the jewelry into a flexible material, or by the insertion of a holder device in a soft flexible material. Thus, both of these devices operate on the principle that soft flexible material is forced aside and the desire of the material to return to its original configuration is the force that holds the item in device.
Finally. the most pertinent reference appears to be the U.S. Pat. No. 2,797,806, issued on July 2, 1957, which describes a jewelry case designed to have the appearance of a closed book. Said device has a boxlike structure which contains in the bottom of the box, soft resilient foamed material which is described by the inventor therein as a foam rubber body. which is designed such that the body has a series of spaced apart longitudinally extending, square-section voids, spaced inwardly from both the top and the bottom of said body. The body is provided with parallel slits extending inward from the surface of said body and communicating with each void intermediate its width. The inventor states that it is preferable that the flanges or tops which overlie the voids should be in engagement at the slit portions so as to have pressure engagement with the shanks of the jewelry which is passed through said slits and into the voids. It is important for those skilled in the art to realize that the pressure that holds the jewelry in the slot is wholly dependent on the flanges or tops which overlie the voids, and which is pushed apart by the insertion of the jewelry, and which obtains its force by virtue of the need for the foam rubber to return to its original configuration. If this device were used to hold hooks, movement of the hook in the direction of the slit causes the hook to dislodge. The instant invention depends in part on such a force, but there are also present additional forces, created when the device of the instant invention is manufactured, and which are not present in the prior art devices.
The prior art devices, especially those with resilient fillers, are thus not wholly satisfactory for storing fishing lures in that they are impractical for use while being used during fishing, or they simply do not function sufficiently to hold the small items in their place while the device is being actively used. Furthermore, it has been found that none of the prior art devices will function for heavy lures such as plugs or spoons rigged with treble or even larger single hooks. After repeated usage, many of these devices fail to hold even small hooks.
The present inventive device overcomes the aforementioned problems because of its unique ability to hold the small items more securely while not creating impractical removal, use and re-insertion of the small item into the inventive device.